Computer and communications networks such as the Internet have grown in sophistication in terms of solutions for helping users identify the appropriateness level of online and other digital content. With respect to movies and video games, rating systems have long existed in which an age-based rating is associated with a consumable media product. Video games, for example, may be rated as “Mature,” “Teen,” etc. Also familiar is the ratings scheme for movies employed by the Motion Picture Association of America.
These rating systems certainly are adequate for many consumers, and can provide parents and others with a clear indication of the types of content that may be encountered in a movie or video game. Nonetheless, the ratings are often simplistic and arbitrary, and are based on the editorial tastes of an often anonymous group of reviewers. Further, a wholesale rating is applied even where the large majority of a piece is free of any objectionable content. In addition, the user is without any control or tools with respect to the ratings, and their only interaction with the rating itself is perceiving it and determining whether to factor it into their consumption behavior or that of their children or others.